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Leominster consultant work may have broken bidding law

By Jack Minch, jminch@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
01/18/2013 06:32:13 AM EST

LEOMINSTER -- The city apparently violated state law when it failed to request bids for the consultant work used by the City Council's zoning subcommittee while the city's zoning ordinance was being updated.

Officials on Thursday seemed confused as to who was responsible for tracking or controlling consultant Steve Mullaney's costs, which total $75,000, as invoices rolled in during the past year.

Attorney Mark Bodanza also provided consultant work for the subcommittee, but state law exempts legal work from the bidding process, said city Purchasing Agent Greg Chapdelaine.

There is a provision in the law that exempts engineering work from the bidding process if it is for a construction project. But Mullaney was apparently providing professional services, which is not exempt, Chapdelaine said.

"On the face of it, Mr. Mullaney provided professional services to help in the crafting of the zoning policy, and if that is in fact what he did, which from the invoice it looks like he did to me, that is a biddable service and the threshold is $5,000," Chapdelaine said.

The council approved spending $5,000 in January 2012 for Mullaney's and Bodanza's consulting work.

When Mullaney's bills passed the $5,000 threshold, the work was supposed to go out to competitive bid under state law.

The bills were sent to Mayor Dean Mazzarella's office, but it was the City Council that agreed to hire and fund Mullaney's work.

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"Clearly we're well over the $5,000 and he's done the work, so he deserves to be appropriated," Mazzarella said.

Mullaney said he sent his bills to Mazzarella's office.

"We've sent a total of 17 bills, I think," Mullaney said. "At the mayor's request everything is broken down into detail, to less than an hour in some circumstances, itemizing everything."

His office put in more than 700 hours of work on the project, but he has not been paid yet.

Mazzarella, council President Susan Chalifoux Zephir, and Ward 1 Councilor David Rowlands, who chaired the zoning subcommittee, have called Mullaney in the past week to discuss payment.

"They are all working on it, they tell me," Mullaney said.

The original goal of the zoning update was to stimulate economic development along such areas as Lancaster and Mechanic streets, Merriam Avenue and the downtown, Mazzarella said.

The city hired VHB as a consultant on the project for $75,000.

When the subcommittee began reviewing the revisions, the members were unhappy with the quality of work, Rowlands said.

"I know we paid $75,000 to VHB and didn't have anything we can use, in my opinion," he said.

Mullaney and Bodanza both worked pro bono on the project until the council authorized the $5,000 funding.

"It took Mr. Mullaney and Mr. Bodanza and all of us on the committee and council to do the additional work that was needed to get it in a high-quality final form," Rowlands said.

The committee did not realize the scope of work it was facing when Mullaney and Bodanza were brought into the project, he said.

"One of the key things that happened here is Mr. Mullaney put together a zoning map from scratch," Rowlands said. "The original zoning map was old, so he created a new zoning map that was integrated into the GIS system."

It was a tremendous amount of work that required superior engineering skills, he said.

Rowlands said Wednesday he is aware the bill is high but didn't know the exact details or final terms.

"My concern was at the end of the day, I think what we have is a product that is good for the city," Rowlands said. "Could we have done things more efficiently? Yes."

Zephir said she has emailed Mazzarella to ask how Mullaney will be paid.

"The invoices have been submitted to him all along," she said. "I think the first bills were submitted at the end of July. The council was just made aware of them at the latter end of December."

Mazzarella will have to send an appropriation request to the council, Zephir said.

There is potential for some legal fallout for failing to put it out to bid, she said.

"I am concerned about the process and concerned we all understand how this happened," Zephir said. "I am concerned it didn't go out to bid. The reason it didn't go out to bid is nobody thought it was going to be this lengthy or costly a project."

Zephir said she realized Mullaney and Bodanza must have crossed the $5,000 threshold, but did not see the invoices and assumed Mazzarella's office had negotiated some kind of compensation such as in-kind services.

"At that point the mayor should have alerted the council, certainly the Legal Affairs (Committee) chairman, that if the consultants were going to continue to submit we should go out to bid," she said.

The council approved the zoning changes Monday. The city solicitor is reviewing them and will send them back to the council for final approval, said City Clerk Lynn Bouchard.

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